The Latin-alphabet letters I and J were not
systematically distinguished until the 17th century. In early
documents, therefore, the letters I and J were interchangeable, thus the
name IANSON or I'Anson appeared as Janson or J'anson.
Transcribers
of early documents, usually people unfamiliar with the name and its pronunciation,
almost invariably write the J instead of the I, indeed, a few even use
an L (L'anson), assuming the name to be French. At least one
branch of the family officially adopted the name Janson when they moved
to London from Yorkshire.

Pronunciation seems to have been the cause of
some variations in the spelling of our name: some branches of the
family say "Eye -anson", some "EEan-son" and some "Ine-son". In an
age of general illiteracy it would have been the job of the cleric of the
parish church to try to write the name appropriately, based on the pronunciation.

We have yet to determine the source of the name,
but we generally think that it is of Scandinavian origin, possibly a contraction
of a name like Johannson (a very common Scandinavian name, akin to Johnson).
The name JANSON is found in the Netherlands and even in France (though
it is rare there, probably arriving with the Norse settlers who became
the Normans). Bryan I'Anson, in his "History of the I'Anson Family"
(1915), claims a French noble origin, but this seems unlikely and his sources
for this assertion have not yet been found. In the Orkneys there
are many with the name EUNSON that claim Viking ancestry, and this name,
too, may relate to ours.

The biggest mystery is where the apostrophe came
from. It seems to have been used consistantly by the literate members
of the family in the 17th century. Could this have been its original
spelling? -- or an aid to correct pronunciation? -- or just an affectation?

This unusual surname is English, but is said to be cognate with the Scottish
patronymics Ianson and Iainson.

It derives from the male given name Iain, from the Gaelic Eoin, itself
a form of the Hebrew John.

Ian or Iain is also pronounced like Jan, the Dutch version of John, and
consequently Janson and I'anson frequently appear together in the same
records. Examples include John Janson or I'anson, in the Register of the
Freemen of the city of York, dated 1569 to 1673.

Examples of recordings include that on January 24th 1608, of Margaret Ianson,
who was christened at Kendal in Westmorland, and on December 24th 1759,
John I'anson and Jane Evans who were married at St. Mary's, Nottingham.

John Bankes I'anson, the rector of Corfe Castle in Dorset, died on October
28th 1799.

A coat of arms granted to the I'anson family has the blazon of a shield
divided quarterly azure and red, charged with a cross patonce and a gold
chief.

The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of James
I'anson, given as being a sea captain.

This is dated 1509, in the records of Hawkeswell, in Yorkshire, during
the reign of King Henry V111th,1509 - 1547.

Amongst many variations in the spelling of the
I'Anson name, one is particularly interesting, the spelling EYANSON, because
from it may have sprung a branch of the family that still bears that name.

Between 1690 and 1698, the church official responsible
for recording births, marriages and burials in the parish register of the
church of St Andrew in Fingall (or Finghall), always wrote the I'Anson
name as Eyanson. Bear in mind that all the villagers were probably
illiterate and only knew the sound of their name and not its spelling.
Consequently, the clergy would have written the name phonetically, based
on its sound. After 1698 the spelling in Fingall changed to Ienson
before returning to Ianson/Janson.

There was no new Rector for St Andrews in that
decade -- a Robert Smith was Rector from 1665-1710 -- but perhaps different
clerks were responsible for keeping the parish registers up to date.
This would be revealed by an examination of the register itself (or a microfilm
of it).

Nowhere else in English records have I found the
I'Anson name written as Eyanson other that in this brief period in Fingall.
However, the name Eyanson appeared in the 18th century in the U.S.A.
According to family tradition, John Eyanson (born c.1725) emigrated from
Dublin, Ireland to Baltimore, MD, U.S.A. in 1742. A 1988 search
of some of the records for Dublin disclosed another Eyanson family, but
the relationship to John Eyanson's family is not yet known: a Jacob Eyanson
and his wife, Mary, had a son, John (born 1744) which is documented in
Dublin records.

I have a theory that a young I'Anson from Fingall
decided to travel to Ireland in the 1690s taking with him a letter of reference
from his local vicar or church clerk. This churchman always spelled
the I'Anson name EYANSON (as we see in the Parish Register for that time),
thus the young man would have accepted this as the standard spelling of
his name, and it would have been copied onto all his documentation.
There he had a son John c.1725 who emigrated to the U.S.A., and possibly
also another son, Jacob.

NB: On searching Eyanson on the I.G.I. (Family
Search website of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints)
I find my Fingall theory shot to pieces -- there were, in fact, Eyansons
recorded in London as early as 1677. However, there are only 8 Eyansons
recorded there in total, an indication that this is an unusual spelling
of the name.

________________________

Descendents in U.S.A. of John Eyanson from
Dublin have a web site that may be of interest:

Unlike Eyanson, Ineson is a much more common
name, especially in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

I have recorded from the I.G.I. alone over 2,360
Ineson entries. However, some of these are wives and I am sure there
will be many duplicated entries found when these records are sorted out..

There is certainly clear evidence that Ineson
was a common variant spelling of I'Anson / Ianson, but it will take much
more research to determine whether Inesons and Iansons in
general descend from the same root.